Monday, December 24, 2007

The last week again we witnessed another controversy about the racial prejudices against the Indians when the OEH refused to tie up with the TAJ Group as according to them it would 'erode their brand value'.No doubt it is clearly an attack on the rising stature of Indians in the business world and the TATAs should demand an apology.But Indians themsleves are a highly racist people. I think we make a lot of noise when something like this happens but we ignore the same thing happening in our own backyard.Consider the Dr.Mohammed Haneef case who was held as a terror suspect in Australia after the Glasgow bombings. There was such a brouhaha that an innocent man has been kept in custody and the whole of India watched the pictures of Haneef being kept in solitary confinement in shock and horror.After the Hyderabad bombings, the police routinely kept hundreds of innocent Muslims in custody and assaulted them.Why does no body speak out for them?Consider another case.Whenever we see a person from the north east we call them Chinkis.I think calling them this is most derogotary and a racial remark. Whenever we see a black, people start making fun of them calling them 'Hapshis' and make noises when they pass by.Are we in a situation to protest then that Shilpa Shetty was called a Paki in a show where she was given crores to participate? Aren't we then hypocrites? All kashmiris in India are beleived to be terrorists. The landlords won't take them as tenants.Look at our own houses. The maids and servants who come to our houses, they sit on the floor and we have separate cups for them to drink tea. The huge fairness cream market in India is probably the biggest in the whole of Asia.Being of a dark complexion is called being ugly. The recent tour of Australia in India where racial remarks were being made against Andrew Symonds by Indians in the stands and we all said in denial that it was not racism which clearly was.If now the same thing happens to Indians there the whole nation will raise a voice over it.The whole society raises voices against caste based reservations but no body stands against management quota reserved for the affluent.We are living in a country where the rich can easily buy justice.The examples of Indian hypocrisy are endless. So rather than making noises about racism lets first look at ourselves and then point fingers to others.